Region 9 volleyball: SC, DH sweep; Panthers beat Dixie in five

ST. GEORGE – The two front-runners in the region won easily Tuesday night, while the battle between Dixie and Pine View for third place was an epic five-game contest.

When the dust cleared, Snow Canyon and Desert Hills remain 1 and 2 in the region, while Pine View’s close win vs. Dixie puts the Panthers in third place after five matches of region action. Here’s a recap of Tuesday night’s games:

The Warriors swept the Hurricane Tigers, 25-10, 25-8, 25-6. Crash Parker had 20 kills, 11, digs and a 3.0 passing efficiency. Durante had six kills, 10 digs and six service aces. Shaylee Reed had 30 assists and six digs. The Tigers collectively had six blocks as a team. The Warriors will travel to Pine View Thursday night. Hurricane will travel to Desert Hills.

Snow Canyon stays perfect in Region 9 play at 5-0 with and overall record of 8-2. Hurricane falls to 2-8 overall, 1-4 in region.

Pine View 3, Dixie 2

The match went five games, but few would have called it a marathon. Pine View came away with the win in five sets (15-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9) in a very fast-paced game.

“Our offense does better when we go to the quick sets,” said Pine View middle blocker Megan Hintze. “It keeps us on our toes and sometimes catches the other teams off guard.”

The first set was all Dixie. They quickly built a huge lead and kept the pressure on. Before the game was ten minutes old Dixie held a 20-6 lead. Pine View came alive briefly at the end of the first set. “We started out flat,” said Panther head coach Kelly Murdock. “We finally started playing towards the end of the first set.”

The second set stayed close. Neither team was able to get more than a three-point lead. In the end Pine View was able to take advantage of attack errors from the Dixie offense and pulled away with a 26-24 win to tie up the match.

The third set also stayed close. Pine View had some untimely service errors that allowed the Flyers to pull away at the end of the set.

“We won the second set and then they took the third,” said Coach Murdock. “In between games I did not talk about the service errors, but just focused on what they were doing well. They came out in the next set with more confidence.”

The Panthers dominated the fourth set. They led by 10 at one point, 21-11, before Dixie closed on a mini rally. However the deficit was too high and the Panthers prevailed 25-18.

The final set saw many close line calls. The last two went in Pine View’s favor and the Panthers secured the match. Panther outside hitter Natasha Fiame talked about the friendly rivalry between the two teams.

“We have played against each other so many times. We are pretty evenly matched and every time we compete it goes into extra sets.”

For Dixie Katie Fisher led the team with 13 kills. DeAubrey Bowers had eight kills. Holly Nyberg led the team with 15 digs.

The Thunder got back on the winning track by sweeping Cedar in straight sets, 25-20, 25-17, 25-4. Rachel Winters had 12 kills, eight digs and three service aces. For Cedar, Kylie Field had 10 assists. Ashley Vanfleet recorded six kills.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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About the Author

Darren Cole recently returned to sportswriting after a 20-plus year hiatus. While pursuing other studies, he developed an early passion for sports writing as a senior writer and sports editor for the Ricks College Scroll in 1988-89. Darren has spent the last 20 years writing legal memorandi and appellate briefs. In addition to his legal career, he has also taught legal and criminal justice courses at the university level for nine years as an adjunct professor. Darren is married to wife Lisa, has two sons and is a confessed sports junkie.